A 20-year-old BPO employee in Bengaluru, a native of Nagaland was stabbed by two unidentified bike-borne attackers in Hosur Main Road early Sunday at around 2.30 am.

The victim was getting out of an autorickshaw when the attack happened. This incident puts the government and police in trouble again, who have been claiming that hate crimes against north-easterners had ended and that the city was safe from the xenophobic attacks that set off the shock exodus in August.

The incident has been reported to the nodal officer, appointed to handle the exit of some 25,000 north-easterners from the city, after several were attacked by members of the minority community.

Last Sunday’s victim has been identified as Sumit Das, a native of Dimapur in Nagaland. Working for a BPO firm located at Domlur, Das, rattled by the knife attack has been given police protection. Central division police are investigating the case but the city police brass are tight-lipped about the issue as they do not want to spark fears afresh.

Some 10,000 people who had fled have returned since the first attacks began on August 15.

Attacks back to haunt N-E youth

An officer who is part of the investigation said Mr Das had come to the city eight months ago to work in a BPO firm and lived with friends in a rented house in Are Kempanahalli on Hosur Road.

He was returning home from work at 2.30 am in an autorickshaw and was walking to his house after paying off the auto, when two men on a Yamaha bike accosted him on Hosur Road and demanded to know where he was going. They grabbed him by the collar and began questioning him about his movements. They spoke in Hindi and Kannada.

When Das tried to struggle with them, one of them pulled out a knife and stabbed him in his left shoulder. They warned him he would be killed if he was seen in the vicinity again. They then sped away on the bike.

A profusely bleeding Das was taken to Bangalore Hospital near the South End Circle by his room mates. A team of policemen recorded his statement in the hospital.

The attackers are said to be around 20-25 years of age. Since it was dark Mr Das was unable to note down the registration number of the motorbike.

The case is being investigated by the Central division police. Mr Das, who fears that he might be attacked again, has been assured of police protection and a point book will be put up near his residence, the officer added.

Radicals pushed them to send threat SMSes

Police say that the four men who have been arrested in connection with the inflammatory SMSs that caused people from north-eastern states to flee from Bengaluru in August, have revealed that they were encouraged to act in such a way by a pro-Islamic radical group.

The police allege that the accused were part of a small group of like-minded people, mostly youngsters, who used to come together to debate on issues and topics affecting Muslims around the world. In one such meeting, they were encouraged to spread the message of alleged atrocities against Muslims.

“With the arrest of Moosa we were finally able to ascertain that the first of such messages originated from Pune. We have sent all the recovered data, phones, SIMS and laptops to Hyderabad for forensic evaluation and data assimilation,” a senior officer involved in the investigation stated.

The investigations seem to suggest that the arrested youth did not create the inflammatory images, but were motivated to circulate the images and messages to promote the cause of Muslim brotherhood and of those who were being persecuted in Assam and Burma, the officer added.

“Among the arrested it was mainly two people who had sent the mass messages that led to panic in the city,” the officer said.

The police were on the look out for Moosa, and were shocked when they found that he had sent over 8,000 inflammatory messages. Among the first to be arrested was 26-year-old Anees Pasha, who had directed the police to Moosa. The police have also arrested Thaseen Nawaz (32) and Shahid Salman Khan (22).

All those arrested have been booked for promoting enmity between groups, committing deliberate and malicious acts, and also under section 66 of the Information Technology Act.